'It's my only hope': ACT Brumbies coach Dan McKellar calls for accountability after Super Rugby AU final

The ACT Brumbies coach has to find a way to lift his troops off the canvas in the wake of a shattering Super Rugby AU final defeat, and he has to do it quickly.

Because awaiting the Brumbies in round one of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman are the Canterbury Crusaders in Christchurch.

It is the toughest road trip in the competition. The Crusaders are buoyed by their second consecutive Super Rugby Aotearoa title - their fifth Super Rugby championship on the trot.

The Brumbies are coming off a heartbreaking 19-16 loss to the Queensland Reds in the Australian final in front of 41,637 at Lang Park on Saturday night, one which saw 13 men ultimately succumb to an 85^th minute match-winner.

MORE RUGBY UNION

So McKellar will sit through the footage - right down to James O'Connor's final conversion deep into the 87^th minute - and begin his review. The little moments will sting, like the Brumbies' lineout which missed its target inside their own 22 with a minute left.

But so too will a host of controversial calls by referee Nic Berry late in the piece, with the Brumbies on the wrong end of a 20-8 penalty count. Darcy Swain controversially saw yellow in the 78^th minute, and Luke Reimer followed three minutes later to leave the visitors with 13 men.

Even so, it seemed the Brumbies had done enough when Red Angus Scott-Young was held up in the 84th minute. Yet Berry went back and blew a penalty for offside despite there being no signal and no audible call of advantage.

One phase prior to O'Connor's match-winner, Taniela Tupou was stopped just short of the line. Brumby Mack Hansen was adamant the ball had come loose in the tackle. Skipper Allan Alaalatoa asked for the TMO, but was told it had been cleared.

"I can't say too much to be honest, just as long as everyone is accountable for their performance out there tonight. I know the players are and the coaches are. It's my only hope," McKellar said.

"I thought when we held the guy up, there was no advantage, then there was a penalty. Then there is another crack. Thirteen blokes, in the end it just became incredibly tough for us to hold them out. Boys were exhausted. It's an interesting game to watch.

"I'm not sure who will be refereeing games in New Zealand, whether Australian refs will travel or not, but everyone gets reviewed. We review our program every week with the leaders, we review individual performances every week. As long as everyone is doing that."

Berry did little to endear himself to Brumbies fans and fence-sitters alike. The ex-Reds scrumhalf's Wikipedia page was updated soon after kick-off, telling of his match-winning exploits in the final.

Tupou had already caused problems at scrum time, though was perhaps lucky to escape being penalised at times for boring in. It was at the scrum the Reds established dominance to keep the Brumbies on the backfoot late in the game.

Alaalatoa admits the Brumbies "need to be better" in that area, but it's little more than cold comfort.

"I just felt like there was no contest at all. It just felt like both front rows were collapsing," Alaalatoa said.

"You've got to look at the penalty count, so you've got to be honest there. I thought most of those calls, [Berry] was calling it before we even had a chance to come back against the pressure.

"It's probably the picture he had in his head. We need to be better there.

"The boys were putting their body on the line with everyone flying in everywhere. As Dan said, the boys now are shattered. A lot of the boys emptied the tank.

"It took 85 minutes and we forced them to score out wide. Down to 13 men, and holding them out for so long, then they just got back-to-back penalties."